1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer communications networks. More specifically, the present invention relates to computer high-speed networks linking geographically related users and to manners of implementing and operating such networks.
2. The Relevant Technology
Computer technology is breaking barriers to interpersonal communications at an amazing rate. Already, it is possible to communicate almost instantaneously with anyone in the world that has a computer and a telephone line. Computer networks, such as the Internet, link individuals and various types of organizations in world-wide digital communication. The Internet has almost unlimited promise for communications advances, but is limited by an overburdened and somewhat unsuited transmission medium.
In addition to the Internet, businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and other similarly related entities also communicate over much smaller-scale networks, such as local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). These small-scale networks, particularly LANS, operate at much higher speeds than the Internet, but are expensive to operate at large scales. Thus, a large gap exists, between the scope of coverage and speed of operation of the global, but relatively slow, Internet and the faster but more limited LANs and WANs. It would be advantageous to close this gap with larger-scale networks that operate at speeds close to that of LANS.
Several barriers exist to filling the gap between current limited coverage networks and the Internet. One such barrier is the “last mile” dilemma. That is, the Internet runs at very high speeds over its backbone, but slows down considerably over its localized connections. Generally, the Internet relies upon standard telecommunications industry lines and switching equipment for this last mile. This infrastructure is designed for telephone communications, and is not well adapted to the packetized communications of digital networks. A dilemma lies, however, in replacing the telephone infrastructure with transmission mediums more suited to digital communications. It is currently considered prohibitively expensive to connect high speed communications lines down to the individual users of the Internet.
This fact, together with the general congestion of the Internet in general leads to a substantial slow down of Internet communications. It also limits the deployment of intermediate types of networks. A further barrier to the implementation of networks of varying scopes and to the new introduction of new paradigms for network communication comes in the form of financing. Such developments using current technology would be prohibitively expensive. Who is going to pay for this infrastructure?
Accordingly, a need exists for an intermediate sized network to close the gap between the world-wide Internet and current relatively small scale networks. Preferably, such an intermediate sized network operates at speeds similar to those of LANS, coverage both in geographical area and diversify of user type. Additionally any solution to this problem should also address financing of installation and should overcome the last mile dilemma. New technologies for achieving such a new paradigm in computer networking are similarly needed.